Varsity 541

Comets settle for second after SOH split

CENTRAL POINT — The Crater baseball team was focused only on what it could control on Saturday — a doubleheader with Roseburg at Anhorn Field — and the Comets came away with a split, winning the first game, 4-3, and dropping the second, 9-4.

Comment

MailTribune.com

Writer

Posted May. 12, 2013 at 2:00 AM

Posted May. 12, 2013 at 2:00 AM

» Social News

CENTRAL POINT — The Crater baseball team was focused only on what it could control on Saturday — a doubleheader with Roseburg at Anhorn Field — and the Comets came away with a split, winning the first game, 4-3, and dropping the second, 9-4.

After North Medford swept Grants Pass that same afternoon, Crater was destined for a second-place finish in the Southern Oregon Hybrid — a league that features all five squads in the OSAA power ranking's top 12.

"Our focus was to get Game 1 and come out and hopefully get Game 2 and then see if we got any help," Crater head coach Jay Campbell said.

Though they finished third in the SOH, the Indians (15-8, 5-7 SOH) locked up the No. 2 spot in the power rankings, which help to determine future playoff pairings. North is first, Sheldon third, Clackamas fourth, Thurston fifth and Crater (17-9, 8-4) sixth. South Medford is 10th in the same rankings and Grants Pass 12th.

The rankings were frozen at 10 p.m. Saturday.

Tyler Aplin played the role of hero in the opener, launching a go-ahead, two-run home run in the bottom of the sixth inning to put Crater up 4-3. With one out, he smashed his first homer of the season to left-center field and drove in Taylor Pardee, who had reached on a single and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Tanner Ryerson.

"He had had a good at-bat previously," Campbell said. "He's been in a mini-slump going into today. I had a feeling he would break through and, obviously, he came through with a clutch home run. He got a ball he could drive and didn't miss it."

Aplin finished 2-for-3 with three runs scored, while Pardee went 2-for-2 and Anthony Martin 2-for-4 with an RBI single in the fifth.

David Irvine was 2-for-3 with a run and RBI in Game 1 for Roseburg.

Nolan Bastendorff earned the win, giving up six hits, three earned runs and one walk with nine strikeouts.

The Comets took the 1-0 lead in the first inning on Ty Fox's RBI fielder's choice, which scored Aplin.

In Game 2, Zach Wyscaver hit a three-run homer in the Indians' seven-run second inning.

"We just didn't do a good job of locating and being able to control the strike zone," Campbell said. "We got caught in some counts where we had to throw fastballs and they hit them."

Aplin went 3-for-4 with two doubles and three runs and Pardee 2-for-3 for the Comets, who committed four errors.

Wyscaver finished 2-for-4 with three RBIs and two runs, Tristan Guillen 2-for-4 with two runs and Layne Westwang 2-for-3 for Roseburg, which recorded seven of its 11 hits in the second inning.

SOUTH MEDFORD 8-8, ASHLAND 5-6 — At Ashland, pinch-hitter Caleb Newman hit a two-run single in the top of the seventh to give South Medford the lead for good in Game 2 as the Panthers completed a nonleague sweep at North Mountain Park.

South Medford overcame a 5-1 deficit to beat Ashland ace Jamie Flynn in the opener, scoring five runs in the seventh, including three on Joe Cooney's bases-clearing double. Pat Alexander picked up the win, allowing five runs on eight hits in a complete-game effort.

In the second game, South Medford (15-10) jumped out to a 5-0 lead after two innings only to watch the Grizzlies (14-10) tie the game with a five-run third. In the seventh, Jimmy Sporer led off with a single, advanced to third on back-to-back bunts and scored what proved to be the winning run on Newman's single through the left side of the infield.

Brandon Lupton had three hits and three RBIs on the day to lead South, while Cooney added two hits and four RBIs.

For Ashland, Steen Fredrickson and Flynn had three hits apiece, with Flynn also driving in three runs and scoring twice.

HENLEY 5-10, NORTH VALLEY 4-1 — At Merlin, Skyline Conference champion Henley wrapped up the regular season with a sweep.

Marco Garmendia went 3-for-4 with two doubles and a run scored for North Valley in the opener, when the Hornets (20-5, 12-3 Sky) jumped out to a 5-0 lead before the Knights (15-11, 7-8) responded with four runs in the fifth.

CASCADE CHRISTIAN 13-17, LAKEVIEW 0-0 — At Lakeview, Cascade Christian junior Isaiah Luzny pitched a five-inning perfect game — his second of the season — and the SCH-champion Challengers tallied 28 hits in their final league doubleheader.

In the second game, Luzny's 72-pitch outing included 10 strikeouts. He also tossed a five-inning perfect game against Illinois Valley on April 16.

Cody Coggins went 4-for-5 with two RBIs and Luzny and Tim Martin had two hits and two RBIs apiece for Cascade Christian (20-4, 12-0 SCH). Kyle Ferguson, Cooper Clark and Luke Dusenbury all had two hits.

In the opener, Coggins blanked Lakeview on two hits for five innings with seven strikeouts and no walks before being relieved by Jordan Ragan in the sixth. Clark finished 3-for-4 with two RBIs against Lakeview (15-10, 6-5).